In warm and still conditions, Siena Mackley, 17, scooped silver in the under-20 women’s 5000 metres event in a very credible time of 16:52 behind Canterbury’s Kate Currie and ahead of Auckland’s Sascha Letica.
And James Weber, 16, ran a commanding race in the U18 men’s 3000m, showing poise and tactical nous to storm home and claim the gold.
Both placed fourth in their respective age grades the following days in the 1500m events.
The Wakatipu High pair are trained by Queenstown Athletics super-coach Neville Britton and have continued their consistency over the years in both secondary schools cross country and track athletics distance running.
Britton says he’s excited to see what the pair can achieve at Southland and South Island secondary schools athletics champs in coming weeks.
Siena, meanwhile, has been named in a 16-strong New Zealand secondary schools athletics team touring California next month — the only South Island female selected.
